The below statement has been agreed upon by British Hedgehog Preservation Society, British Wildlife Rehabilitation Council, Mammal Society, Secret World Wildlife Rescue, and Vale Wildlife Hospital & Rehabilitation Centre, regarding respectful communication within the hedgehog conservation sector:
Hedgehog conservation comes in many forms: rehabilitation of sick, injured and orphaned hedgehogs, research into threats, NGO-led conservation campaigns and advocacy work, educating and inspiring others to take part in important work to preserve and protect the future and welfare of European hedgehogs in the wild. These different sectors within hedgehog conservation have an important role to play, and partnership working is crucial to any future progress in conserving this species.
Recently, we have noticed a concerning increase in bullying, harassment, sharing of unsubstantiated information and lack of respect towards colleagues and peers within the hedgehog conservation community.
Online, we’ve witnessed and experienced targeted and malicious bullying of colleagues at hedgehog rescues and seen a rise in the spreading of factually incorrect information and deliberate harassment of researchers and NGOs that are working hard towards the same common goal: to save hedgehogs.
Furthermore, hedgehog rehabilitators in general report that they experience an increase in verbal abuse from members of the public approaching them with wildlife in need of care. There is a widespread lack of acknowledgement of the effort and -most often- volunteer work around the clock required to run a wildlife rescue.
It concerns us that the victims exposed to these continuous incidents may become exhausted and their mental health be negatively impacted, causing them to leave the sector entirely. The lack of respect and sharing of non-scientific misinformation causes widespread confusion potentially harming our dwindling hedgehog population.
Contributors to this document are committed to ensuring the hedgehog conservation sector is free from harassment, aggression and bullying and want to encourage all employees, contractors, researchers, rehabilitators and members of the public to treat each other with dignity and respect.
Striving to ensure that the members of the sector are free of harassment and bullying and that everyone is treated with dignity and respect is vital if the sector is to thrive and our shared goal of helping reverse the decline of hedgehogs in the UK is to be achieved.
With this statement we call for action to change this distressing trend and encourage respectful communication between and towards hedgehog professionals of any kind.
Bullying or harassment is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.
Any assaults should be reported to the relevant authorities. For guidance, please visit: https://enough.campaign.gov.uk/reporting-abuse
